


Twelve, not Thirteen

by Thalius



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Bets & Wagers, Fluff and Humor, Gen, One Shot, Shopping Malls, Shore Leave, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:35:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25962943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thalius/pseuds/Thalius
Summary: Obi-Wan cannot stop losing his lightsaber, even at the mall.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi
Comments: 7
Kudos: 130





	Twelve, not Thirteen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [epsiloneridani](https://archiveofourown.org/users/epsiloneridani/gifts).



> Based on a tumblr prompt from the lovely [epsiloneridani](https://archiveofourown.org/users/epsiloneridani/). Come find me on tumblr at [@oriyala](https://oriyala.tumblr.com/)!

“It’ll be fine, sir,” Cody repeated.

“Yes,” Kenobi kept saying, but the look on his face said otherwise. Eyes wandering as he looked out across the endless maze of shopping corridors, he didn’t bother to glance at Cody.

“We could check the plaza again.”

“It’s not there,” Kenobi said absentmindedly, tapping an index finger on the railing he’d braced against. Then he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I just need to… concentrate.”

Cody tried not to laugh. It worried him, too; losing a lightsaber in one of Coruscant’s many commercial districts meant it was almost certainly gone forever. It was probably on the black market already.

“What’s the procedure for….” Cody gestured out at the streets. “Reporting a lost one?”

“The Temple has to be notified and file the report. Which we are not doing,” Obi-Wan added, pointing a finger in Cody’s direction. “They don’t need to be made aware.”

“You mean Skywalker doesn't.”

The general gave him a sidelong look but didn’t try to deny it. “Him, among many others. I will be this week’s subject of gossip and scorn if they hear I’ve lost it.”

_ Again, _ Cody didn’t add. “A fate worse than death,” he muttered instead. 

Kenobi turned, eyes wide with incredulity. “You’re enjoying this!”

The commander pressed his mouth into a thin line to keep from smiling. “Never, sir.”

“Oh, you’re a poor liar.” Kenobi turned back to the railing with a sigh. “Perhaps you should be mocking me, anyway.”

Cody decided it was best not to comment further. Instead he enjoyed the view; Coruscant’s pedestrian zones were always a maze of catwalks, bridges, and balconies, criss-crossing in no apparent pattern other than to accommodate more foot traffic. The lack of uniformity called to mind the arteries of an animal, its veins adhering to no other principle aside from efficiency. And efficiency, Cody knew, was not always best accomplished by orderly patterns and straight-line vectors.

It seemed to only add to the general’s stress. In forty minutes they’d covered much ground, but it didn’t feel like it; they were still within the same kilometre they’d started the search, moving up and down different levels as opposed to across them. It made it difficult to remember what areas they’d scoured already.

“Wait.” Kenobi’s head whipped around, and he crossed the large bridge to the other side, dodging around people seemingly without even looking at them. Cody didn’t have whatever talent allowed Jedi to be so cavalier about walking through traffic, so he carefully navigated the web of crowds as he struggled to keep up.

“I think I see it!” he heard the general call, and then—

Cody stopped short, and was almost knocked over for it. He ignored the rude comments he received for getting in the way. “General, do  _ not _ jump!”

Kenobi was already climbing the railing. “I’ll be fine!”

Cody managed to get to the other side of the bridge just in time to see the Kenobi plumet off the edge. Running to railing, he gripped the support rod tightly and looked down to watch him sail many levels below. It was dizzying just to watch.

Noticing a few disturbed onlookers, Cody glanced at the nearest one. “Don’t worry,” he assured the woman beside him, who looked up in shock and confusion. “He’s a Jedi. He does this all the time.”

* * *

He angled both hands down, slowing his descent as he reached the last hundred metres with a controlled burst of the Force. It prevented the worrying outcome of falling on anybody—or breaking any limbs.

Still, it was a heavy landing. His boots clattered on the linoleum flooring, his stance wide and bending low as he dropped to the bridge. It jarred his spine, and all the way up his arm as he planted a hand flat on the ground to steady himself. This close to the Temple, the sight of a Jedi was not uncommon, and the feat garnered only passing glances and an occasional rubbernecking look from tourists.

With a single breath he recovered, and stood up to full height to find his quarry. 

A little Mirialin girl. The hilt in her grip was too large for her tiny fingers to fully wrap around, and she was swinging it about by her side as she walked beside her mother, arms pumping to keep pace. She hadn’t noticed him.

“Excuse me,” he called, nudging around civilians as he followed after them. “Excuse me! Miss?”

Several people turned at the vague hail, including the girl’s mother. They were clearly natives of Coruscant; they both instinctively stepped to the side to avoid becoming just another barrier to the never-ending streams of foot traffic, and their eyes widened when they realised they were the focus of his attention.

“Hello,” he said politely, closing the distance but stopping a few metres away. “Apologies for the interruption to your day, but your daughter has something of mine.”

The mother looked down at her girl. “Ah,” she hummed, seeing the lightsaber in her small hand. “So that’s what that is. We were trying to figure it out.”

“It’s a candlestick,” the girl informed them both, and stepped behind her mother’s leg, peering up at Obi-Wan around it.

He laughed. “It certainly looks like that, doesn’t it?”

Drawing closer, he knelt down and held out a hand. The girl watched him curiously, but didn’t make any motions to detach from her mother’s leg. “It’s alright,” he assured her, and then looked up at her mother. “Where did you find it, if I might ask?”

The woman jerked her head up and to the right. “Near a clothing outlet, on the ground. She was adamant about keeping it.”

“It sings,” the girl whispered, and Obi-Wan looked back at her—now with renewed interest.

“You can hear it?” 

The girl nodded in response, and he smiled at her. “That’s a rare talent,” he told her. “Not many people can.”

Her mother’s hand fell to her head, pushing her back, and Obi-Wan looked back up to find her expression had changed, now wary and guarded.

“Not to worry,” he assured her, immediately understanding. “I’d just like my lightsaber back.”

The girl was too old to be taken to the Temple anyway. And although it was rare that families refused to allow their children to become Jedi, it did happen. Perhaps this mother was one of those exceptions.

The Mirialin woman tapped her daughter’s head, murmuring something he didn’t catch, and held out a hand for the girl to give up the hilt. Instead, the girl stepped away from her mother and took a few tentative steps in his direction, lightsaber outstretched—not brandished, but warily offered.

Obi-Wan took it from her gently. “Thank you,” he said, relieved as the familiar weight of it slipped easily back into his hand. 

“How do you turn it on?” she asked, still standing there, still watching him.

“This toggle here,” he replied, gesturing to the palm switch near the base of the hilt. “But it’s dangerous to activate in a crowd, so it’s best to keep it sheathed.” He thanked the stars the girl had not deactivated the safety lever and figured out how to use it. There were far worse fates for a lost lightsaber than simply ending up in a pawn shop.

The girl nodded, watching him stand and hook it onto his belt. Her mother came up behind her, and he smiled at her gratefully, bowing.

“Thank you for keeping it safe,” he told them both. “Better you than a street dealer. I’m not fond of haggling.”

The woman smiled back tentatively in return, and tapped her daughter’s shoulder. “Of course. Now we should get going.”

“May the Force be with you,” he said in parting as they turned to leave. The girl kept her head craned over her shoulder to watch him, and Obi-Wan held her gaze until they disappeared, quickly, into the crowds.

* * *

“I told you everything would be fine,” Obi-Wan said to Cody, who stood beside him on one of the many packed segments of the repulsorcraft transport.

The commander rolled his eyes, and shifted his weight as the train banked hard left. There was a support bar to his left, and he kept an easy grip on it. “If that’s what helps you sleep at night, sir.”

“Oh, I have no trouble sleeping,” Obi-Wan assured him, adjusting his own grip on the handrail above his head. “Do you, Cody?”

Cody shook his head, a smile at his lips. “Only when you pull stunts like that.”

“I would hardly call that a stunt. It was just a simple jump—”

“I meant losing your saber,” Cody interrupted him. They spoke quietly to avoid drawing attention, but Obi-Wan was wearing his robes and the commander was adorned in the off-duty sweats that all clones were issued, so it was impossible to blend in. “You do it frequently.”

“Frequently is a strong word.”

“It’s why I used it.” Cody turned to look over his shoulder at the window behind them, frowning at the traffic and skyscrapers that whizzed by. “I have a tally going with Rex, and you’re in the lead again.”

Torn between outrage and amusement, Obi-Wan settled for a serene expression instead. It was unbecoming of a Jedi to indulge in outbursts, no matter how warranted. “You know, you have a very funny way of blackmailing me.”

“Who knows how many tallies Skywalker’s bribed Rex to keep off our list,” Cody continued. “Sir.”

Obi-Wan shook his head, joining Cody in looking out the window. “Don’t ‘sir’ me. It won’t hide your insubordination.” He kept his tone mild and light; anyone who heard it would think they were discussing the weather. Then he sighed. “Very well. What would you like, Commander?”

“A new office chair,” Cody said immediately. He’d prepared a response, the bastard. “And maybe a new mug. Mine’s beginning to chip.”

“Perhaps I’ll send you a furniture catalogue and you can circle what you’d like out of it.”

His tone was joking, but Cody only smiled. “Sounds good to me, sir.”

Obi-Wan paused, pursing his lips. “How many tallies does Anakin have?”

The commander raised a brow. “That’ll cost extra.”

His eyes widened. Voice low, he reminded himself. “More than re-furnishing your office?” 

“We just spent an hour of my day off wandering around looking for your lightsaber,” Cody reminded him. 

Obi-Wan pressed his shoulder up against the window to allow someone to walk past, and Cody did the same. It gave them a better, more furtive alcove to argue, and Obi-Wan ducked his head to whisper furiously at him.

“Yes, and I’m very grateful—”

“Grateful doesn’t grant more shore leave,” Cody whispered back.

Obi-Wan shook his head again. “Unbelievable,” he muttered, but he was smiling. “Fine. Name your price. Just give me a number.”

“Twelve.”

His eyes whipped back to Cody, widening in disbelief. “Anakin has misplaced his lightsaber  _ twelve  _ times? Since when?”

“Since Geonosis.”

“My word,” he whispered. And then he remembered something Cody had said earlier. “There’s no way I’m possibly ahead of him!”

The commander raised a brow. “I can list them all off, if you’d like. I remember most of them.”

“Please don’t.” Obi-Wan combed his hair back with a hand. “The number is depressing enough.”

“At least you’re tied now,” Cody murmured. “Since we can forget this one.”

“Indeed we can.” He looked down, letting his hand fall to the hilt of his saber, still securely clipped to his belt. He’d have to do a much better job of hanging onto it. There was no way he would let Anakin win such a ridiculous contest—even if he wasn’t aware he was in one to begin with.

“I’d keep a hand on that,” Cody informed him. His grin was unmistakable. “Don’t want to go up to thirteen again.”


End file.
